Saturday, March 28, 2009

I've been keeping up with my Lay Out a Week challenge but I haven'tbeen posting about it. I'm not sure really, it's not like I haven't beenin front of the computer or anything...it's just I was kind of burnedout with keeping everything up to date. Silly, I know, but that's howit is.

I was also introduced to Twitter and now I seem to spend even moretime on the computer than I need to. Ah well... here are my layoutsfor the past 3 weeks of the challenge.

This was LOAW 2...I love this photo of her in her pink ballet costume and changed up thelayout about 6 times trying to get it just right. I even used an oldScrapJammies page kit that I had been holding on to for just suchan occasion! LOL! I added some SandyLion stickers too.

This is my week 3 LOAW layout. I used the shape collage program Iwrote about here. I love how easy it is to use and how cool it looks!I also wrote my journaling around the edges of the heart shape and doodledaround the pinked edges of the Bazzill cardstock. The capital I and L were madeusing an L with an i on top and bottom and 2 L's together, respectively.I love the look of Thickers and enjoy using them.

This is my 4th week layout. I used cardstock, designer paper and flowersticker parts from Stampin' Up. I added rub-ons from K&Co and journaledwith a black sharpie. This is Punkin's fall 2008 school photo and it wastaken the day before she got her first retainers. She really didn't want towear this pink shirt for her pictures since she has decided that it is nolonger her favorite color - blue is - but once she saw the photos she saidshe was very happy with her color choice after all. She is just too funny!This photo makes me smile!

Check out these incredibly crafty uses for old VCR tapes! Sincewe've been collecting DVDs of most of our favorite video tapes(for ease of use) I've been donating the tapes to the Library orGoodwill since no one else wants them (read that as "no one else will accept them".) Of course, I love crafts and being greenand crafty is just perfect, so here are several ideas on ways toreuse those video tapes instead of throwing them away.

Here, here, here, here and here is a source for flower loomsif you don't have any in your crafty stash!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Several of y'all may remember I was a very big fan of Scrap Jammieskits for quite a while. I decided to end my kit club subscription withthem in November of last year because I was pretty overwhelmedwith the pile of unused kits that I needed to get control of.

Well, since then I have checked in on them a couple of times andseriously thought about resuming my subscription. Unfortunately,it is now too late to do that because they have announced theyare closing.

The current members of their message board received a messageabout it in early February but, as far as I know, the rest of theworld didn't hear anything until today.

This was a fabulous company with awesome customer serviceand gorgeous page kits. I enjoyed doing business with themand I am very sad to see them go.

There are just a few items left on their site for sale so if youare interested go here to see everything. Just don't wait topurchase it if you really want it because the website willbe down by March 25th.

Another great scrapbooking company closes it's doors - very sad.xoxoCsmoferret

Monday, March 16, 2009

Okay, this Around the Corner Frame is just the coolest frame setI've ever seen! I found it on Photojojo.com this morning and I haveto say I am very tempted to order a couple of them! We have somany corners in our house that would definitely work for thisand would give me another place to display pictures.

Check out Photojojo.com - they have lots of incredible advice and ideasthat make sharing photos a whole lot more fun! Visit this page to get acoupon towards purchasing a frame.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

If you haven't checked out CraftCritique.com - today is the day to do it!This very useful blog is celebrating their anniversary with several verycool give aways and the biggest ends tonight at midnight.Go check it out here.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

I can! Reading through my Google Reader Blog list last night I discoveredLinda's post here. That directed me to this blog which pointed me to thiswebsite and Vincent Cheung's Shape Collage program! (Whew!!)

This baby rocks! Vincent's program is fantabulous! I took all 28 LOADlayout photos (and the ScrapYourTrip.Com die cut that I had to sharewith all of the LOAD participants 'cause it made me giggle-so29 images total) that I had uploaded to my Flickr account (and had in aconvenient folder on my desktop) and loaded them into Shape Collage,chose the shape of the collage, the color of the photo borders and pushedthe 'create' button. Viola! The gorgeous heart shaped collage you seeabove! Just slip some nice photo paper into your color printer andprint that bad boy out to scrapbook or frame!

Just select a different shape and click on the 'create' button and hereis another perfect collage! This is so cool I may be making collagesfor every event we take photos for! LoL! Seriously, it's super easyand you will love the results!

Oh! When you do decide you just have to Collage, there are versionsfor everyone! Mac, PC and so on... Nobody gets left out! VincentCheung? You are my newest hero!Enjoy!!xoxoCsmoferret

Okay, after creating a lay out a day for the February LOADChallenge I was positive my MoJo was kaput. I was prettyworn out on March 1st but I decided to go ahead and sign upfor the Lay Out A Week Challenge. I mean, why not? Right?If anything would get it goin' again, then that would. And,it has - I've gotten lots of other things on my ToDo List done.Cleaning, organizing, cooking, exercising, reading, cleaning,and more organizing. Oh, and some scrapbooking, too!It has been great!

Then, since I don't know the meaning of "leave well enoughalone" I signed up for a Faith Based Scrapbook Class. Now,I've never done something like this before but it soundedlike fun. It is based on the book Born to Be Wild -Rediscover the Freedom of Fun by Jill Baughan and it isled by Judy and the free classes are shared onher blog. The great thing about both the class and thechallenge happening at the same time is I get my onelayout per week done and it can do double duty if necessary!Perfect! LOL!

Of course, the first layout of the Faith Based class (FBC)was about who I enjoy spending time with and I thinkthe search for photos and all of the memories that theybrought back as I put together the page has filled mymind with some great ideas for a "friends" album. Yep-a whole album of friends. Now, if know me (and Iknow a couple of you do) then you are probably awarethat I have been a student at BigPictureScrapbooking (BPS)for several years (okay, since they started up in 2005 withCathy Zielske teaching the first class!) and one of my favoriteclasses was Library of Memories (LOM) with Stacy Julian.

One of the main ideas of LOM is that you create albums thatshowcase the following groups -1) All about Us, 2) People we Love,3) Places we Go and 4) Things we Do. So, now, I know whatyou are thinking - "Cosmo, you should already have analbum about Friends because of the 'People We Love' album."

And you know what? You would be right. HOWEVER, I want tocreate a special album JUST about MY friends. Does that makesense? All of the Family Friends and Relatives, etc are in thePeople we Love album so no one gets left out - I promise! LOL!Of course, I have also filled up a sketch page with layout ideasfor most of my friends! Now, I just need to get the photos outand everything put together -- thank goodness for infinitefree time! LOL! See? I think the LOAW challenge is timedperfectly to help me complete this project!

Well, since this is the first Saturday (or any day, really)that we haven't had a dozen or more activities scheduledI am going to go relax on the sofa with the kids and playApples to Apples. A fun, goofy way to spend the evening!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

I finished up my Aqua Heart Charms for the Inspired Artist Weekend Swaplast night and mailed them off this morning. Thanks to FedEx they will bethere by the Friday deadline. Yay!!

I'm happy with the way these finally turned out. I wasn't happy with allof the samples I made up. They just didn't look right and the aqua wasn'taqua enough. In fact, a couple of the pieces I made even looked a bit greenwhen put together with all of the other charms.

I also had a difficult time deciding what I wanted to use as the heart of thecharm - I had some really adorable aqua shell shaped hearts that wouldhave been perfect but I only had 4 and I needed 15 and I spent too muchtime and energy trying to find more. So, since the metal needed to besilver I decided to use these silver hearts and just make dangles.

Of course, the lighting late last night was horrible and I must havewiggled the camera because this was the best photo I came out with.Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was so fuzzy at the time and boxedup the charms and mailed them off before actually downloading thedata card from my camera! That'll learn me! Ah well, such is theway of things.

I hope these past muster with the other Heart Charm Ladies.I'm off to work on a couple more Inspired Swaps - I'll have moreto share soon...

About Me

I am a Mommy to b/g twins, married to my Soulmate, part-time assistant to a CPA, a part-time Book-keeper for a local shop, and I dabble in scrapbooking, cardmaking, painting, jewelry making, sculpture, needle arts and just about any other craft you can think of. I love to create and usually give my art away to friends and family. I just enjoy the process!